On Whitman

by C.K. Williams

In this book, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet C. K. Williams sets aside the mass of biography and literary criticism that has accumulated around Walt Whitman and attempts to go back to Leaves of Grass as he first encountered it--to explore why Whitman's epic "continues to inspire and sometimes daunt" him. The result is a personal reassessment and appreciation of one master poet by another, as well as an unconventional and brilliant introduction to Whitman. Beautifully written and rich with insight, this is a book that refreshes our ability to see Whitman in all his power.

Genres: Poetry, Literary Criticism, Nonfiction, Essays, Criticism, Biography

208 pages, Paperback

First published April 7, 2010

About the author

C.K. Williams was born and grew up in and around Newark, New Jersey. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, where he majored in philosophy and English. He has published many books of poetry, including Repair, which was awarded the 2000 Pulitzer Prize, The Singing which won the National Book Award for 2003, and Flesh and Blood, the winner of the National Book Critics Circle Prize in 1987. He has also been awarded the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, the PEN Voelker Career Achievement Award in Poetry for 1998; a Guggeheim Fellowship, two NEA grants, the Berlin Prize of the American Academy in Berlin, a Lila Wallace Fellowship, the Los Angeles Book Prize, and an award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

He published a memoir, Misgivings, in 2000, which was awarded the PEN Albrand Memoir Award, and translations of Sophocles’ Women of Trachis, Euripides’ Bacchae, and poems of Francis Ponge, Adam Zagajewski, as well as versions of the Japanese Haiku poet Issa.

His book of essays, Poetry and Consciousness, appeared in 1998. and his most recent, In Time, in 2012. He published a book about Walt Whitman, On Whitman, in 2010, and in 2012 a book of poems, Writers Writing Dying. A book of prose poems, All At Once, will be published in 2014.

He teaches in the Creative Writing Program at Princeton University, is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and was a chancellor of the American Academy of Poets.

Reviews

[James Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Williams has written a compact, adoring critical appreciation of Whitman. Most of his examination and praise is well-established. Still, Williams offers a couple of fresh perspectives. He says the first edition of Leaves of Grass, that of 1855, was Whitman's best poetry. He continued to add to the book and to tinker with the original edition for the rest of his life, but all his work after the first blaze of inspiration for the most part didn't live up to the power of those original poems and his revisions diluted them. He speaks of a poet's music as the beginnings of all poetry, before language, even. I found this a little hard to follow. Williams, an important poet in his own right, seemed to be speaking of a percipience or gift only another writer could grasp. But I finally decided him to mean inspiration or will or some intuitive gift. A clear-seeing into the way to speak the truths one is energized to write about. Whitman's music came to him about 1854, and from it came Leaves of Grass. Whitman burned his gift quickly, like a child's sparkler glows brightly before sputtering out. Little of the poetry Whitman wrote following the first edition glowed with the same intensity. Williams' comparing Baudelaire and Whitman was also interesting. He sees them both as offering new perceptions in new forms to see and rejuvenate their worlds. He writes of them as revolutionaries and as the 2 most alike in the vision they brought to clarify not only the age they lived in but ours, too. Their influence can still be felt today. One way their influence can be seen is in the need other poets,like C. K. Williams, feel to write about their work.

[Kevin Lawrence · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book (while keeping Whitman’s poems close at hand) – Williams’ affection and admiration (even awe) for the poet and his poems is undeniable. To be honest, though, I felt like I came away with a better understanding of C.K. Williams as a poet than learning anything particularly new about Whitman. I especially appreciated Williams yoking Whitman’s Leaves of Grass with Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du mal as the sort of root genesis of what modernism means to Williams – it puts Williams’ own poetry into stark relief and helps me appreciate what his aesthetic orientation is that much better (at the same time, the way in which Williams politely but circumspectly puts Dickinson’s poetry to the side and doesn’t see it in dialogue with Whitman’s says more to me about Williams rather than their actual influence on American poetry as a whole – I suspect Williams is not a very strong reader of Dickinson's poems even though he does humbly acknowledge her keen intelligence and I know that he has commented on her poem, "I felt a Funeral, in my brain...," in his book about poetry and psychology.)

This book is structured by sections with a sort of subject heading -- the two subjects where I found Williams particularly engaging were Whitman and “The Body,” and Whitman as “Prophet.” I wholeheartedly agree that one of Whitman’s greatest attributes as a poet is his unabashed celebration of the human body with all its lustful desires, and Williams explores this subject with wit and intelligent appreciation. That celebration of the body combined with Whitman’s voracious, all-encompassing cataloging of any and all phenomenon—no matter how lowly others might regard whatever captures his attention—are the things I love most about Whitman. I melt whenever I read Whitman inhabit and become a 28-year-old lonely spinster lustily spying on 28 young men skinny dipping, or when he inhabits and becomes noble barnyard animals. On the other hand, Whitman’s tendency to sound oracular and prophetic has always made me blush – I distrust that aspect of his voice tremendously. Here is Williams interrogating his own response to that prophetic tendency in Whitman:

“…How much of my admiration for the poems has to do with their aesthetic uniqueness and grandeur, and how much with the promise they make of a new kind of consciousness, indeed a new genre of identity? As a poet, I read with boundless admiration; as a person…I don’t quite know what to think. How not wish to live in a state of unrestrained acceptance the way the speaker in the Leaves does? In the early editions, anyway, before the poet seems to become conscious of being watched, being admired, adored. The way, as I say, he possesses his body, but without avarice, without greed? And puts to use the best part of his intellect not in anything like Socratic skepticism, nor in the endlessly self-dividing analytic scrutiny of our post-Freudian age? Conscious of his community with American, then with all humans, then with all gods and all their disciples, yet burning every instant with self-awareness, self-acceptance, self-enlargement?
Does it matter with all this that he is a ‘great poet’? Isn’t this prophetic identity, as the most fervent of his admirers during his lifetime proclaimed—even Wilde, of all people, who didn’t much care for Whitman’s poetics, pronouncing that his real value was a prophet—beyond all this? I don’t know anymore; I really can’t decide. Or even remember how I used to feel about it, because perhaps those first times I read him, it was indeed with a sense of being beyond poetry: now it’s more simply that he defines some ultimate reach poetry can have into life.”

I appreciate this inconclusive musing about such a fundamental aspect of Whitman’s poetic legacy and find it valuable not just for understanding Williams’ own reaction to Whitman (or mine, for that matter), but also for assessing how most American poetry after Whitman deals with this idea of Whitman/American-Poet-as-Prophet. Personally, this is precisely why Dickinson is a poet much closer to my own heart—her own awesome creative powers are always in a productive tension with an equally strong and profound skepticism (even a feeling of absolute futility) that I find almost entirely absent in Whitman. The omnipotent prophetic quality in Whitman has always shaded the way I read him and consider his legacy on American poetry; it is heartening to hear an intelligent poet like C.K. Williams (who clearly is very much embedded in a Whitmanesque line of American poets) acknowledge that this prophetic, oracular quality in Whitman’s poetry gives him pause as well.

[Melissa Studdard · Rating 5 out of 5]

(The following is an excerpt from my review in The National Poetry Review)
Williams acts as a detective, out to explore a mystery he can never solve: the source of Whitman’s genius. His foremost concern – when and how Whitman first heard his music – kicks off the investigation with a probing and insightful vignette titled simply, “The Music.” In language itself poetic, Williams states, “[ . . .] we’ll never really know when he first fully intuited, and heard, and knew, that surge of language sound, verse sound, that pulse, that swell, that sweep, which was to become his medium, his chariot – just to try to imagine him consciously devising it is almost as astounding as it must have been for him to discover it.” Proving unsolvability the most minor of setbacks, Williams plunges forward undeterred, fleshing out and honoring the mystery of Whitman’s music. He talks of scraps of loose paper jammed into pockets, poems written piecemeal, an astonished Whitman stumbling onto something divine, something that only he can hear. Here Williams, whose scope extends far beyond Whitman to the nature of poetry itself, argues for music as the Prime Mover in poetry. Without it, all else is noise, just words on a page. Music gives the very shape to a poem, and within music the words are already simmering, bubbling, longing to surface.

[Carter]

Sometimes, I want to be on Whitman

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've always admired the Messianic voice in Whitman's work. After reading this book, I see that I've been overlooking many other reasons to admire Leaves of Grass, especially Song of Myself. What a difference it makes when a poet writes about another poet rather than a biographer, a historian, a critic, or God forbid, a textbook editor.

[Craig Werner · Rating 5 out of 5]

A perfect, small engagement with Walt Whitman. I more or less quit reading literary criticism a decade or so ago, in large part because it had become enmired in vocabularies of abstraction designed to celebrate the critic as being, in some sense, smarter, more insightful than the subject of the criticism. Williams, a wonderful poet in his own right, knows better. On Whitman devotes a good percentage of its word count to quotation, which was a joy. But Williams also illuminates why Whitman matters in ways that hit me deeply, even after a half century loving the poems (and teaching a class or two on Walt and multicultural poetry). Part of what I got out of this was a renewed sense of how much better the 1855 Leaves of Grass is than the versions that follow (although what I really want is the 1855 version with the titles Whitman added later.)

If you don't "get" Whitman and want to, this is the place to start. If you do, it'll remind you why.

[John Fredrickson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had high expectations for this book, but found it to be frustrating. Williams clearly knows volumes about Whitman, but the organization of the book allows for much repetitiveness of material, particularly on sexuality and death.

The book is organized by relatively short 'themes' (Vision, The Body, Sex, Woman, ...). Many of these sections end up dealing with Whitman's erotic, which is central to Whitman, but they end up spending a lot of time with wonderings about whether Whitman was gay or bisexual. The problem is that this is a question which I find only mildly interesting. Whitman's eroticism is so much more diffuse and all-encompassing that the focus on homosexuality is at best awkward.

One thing that was new to me was the consideration of whether the poetry accurately reflected Whitman's own inclusive beliefs of humanity, or whether LOG is ultimately much more of a creative fiction than I originally believed.

[Leonard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Countless books have been written about Walt Whitman and I haven't read very many of them, but this one is noteworthy because of it's clear focus on Whitman's poetry and celebration of his work. I found this quote interesting:
"It's essential to keep in mind that in poetry the music comes first, before everything else, everything (italicized) else: until the poem has found its music, it's merely verbal matter, information. Thought, meaning, vision, the very words, come after the music has been established, and in the most mysterious way they're already contained in it. Without the music there's nothing:... Page 3

[John McKenna, Author of Poetry Book: Sessions · Rating 4 out of 5]

C.K. Williams, by re-reading, re-discovering and inviting us along the way – while respectfully allowing the large volumes of academic studies their right earned and important place (being one and a master poet, himself) – he allows himself and shares the refreshed near nirvanic awed wonderment of Whitman’s illuminated prose and poetry.

If you have read Whitman and read any of C.K. Williams’ poetry – the review is simple: "Masters at work (or is that play)!"

I had the opportunity to meet C.K. Williams and hear him read his works - he was kind enough to sign a copy of this book for me then – I thanked him then and do so again here, and so again now.

[Garrett Dunnington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most comparisons can be made incorporated (cross-platform) as communicable, without separate distinctions--- few or more ideas that are radically different than one another or a couple of outlooks that are structually different but only agree at certain antipodes correlation. Rilke's transformational concept and Whitman's naturalist imbibition share relationship even though Whitman's world is spontaneous, resort in the case of the artist. The visionary. However, I personally don't think that salvation for the artist is necessary because artists find inspiration from isolation. Rilke's transformational outlook is a missing link for Whitman whom also could be a relative polarity.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick read. Enjoyable personal reaction to Leaves of Grass. Among many other things: one remembers that Whitman not only wrote scenes in which he seems to be having erotic encounters with other men, he also wrote a scene in which he seems to be having an erotic encounter with the ocean. Very deftly, lightly depoliticized. Very much enjoyed Williams' deep reaction to Whitman's gregarious, enthusiastic views on immortality, and chuckled at his obligatory 'not that I believe in any of that mumbo jumbo myself, of course.'

[Gregory · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this for a writing project I'm doing for Veritas Press. C.K. Williams is a noted American poet, and he captures the genius, and the challenge, of Whitman in this slim volume. From a Christian point of view, there is lots to reject in Whitman, but he was a poet of undoubted insight and power. He's been immensely influential in modern (and post-modern) letters, so we must reckon with him. Even those (like T.S. Eliot) who rejected him, also seem to have been influenced by him.

[Joe Starnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the best book I've read about a poet. I sampled on my Kindle and initially didn't anticipate buying it, but it was so compelling and readable that I bought it and very much enjoyed. Made me appreciate Whitman's poetry, but also understand his signficance as a major figure in American literature and his influence on many, many important writers. Anyone with even a passing interest in Whitman should read this.

[Martin Cerjan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enjoyable. Now I want to read and re-read Walt. How to approach such a huge subject? Personally--and with great affection. This little book made me remember how great some of Whitman's lines are. I, too, believe he had a huge influence. Like nothing before him.

[CLIF · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the very best of the Writers on Writers short biographies. Williams helps us understand in richer ways than I had previously imagined the immensity of Whitman's breakthrough in the first edition of "Leaves of Grass," as well the incomparable beauty of his poems.

[Lauren Albert · Rating 4 out of 5]

An exclamation of wonder. How did Whitman come to write his unexpected masterpiece? Williams seems to just be observing the impossibility of explaining this as he shares with the reader his delight in reading Whitman.

[Daniel Klawitter · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really enjoyable read for such a short book. William's devotion to Whitman is undisguised, and he is a very perceptive reader of not just Whitman's poetry, but of Whitman's place in the canon and the influence he has exercised on poets in America and around the world.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Already a devotee of Whitman, this was a serendipitous find on a used book rack and greatly increased my appreciation of Leaves of Grass. An "Aha!" moment: discussion of the music of Whitman's poetry.

[Jack Goodstein · Rating 3 out of 5]

Little book with little new--more often impressionistic in its critique than analytical. Main virtue is a lot of material from the poems and prose for such a little book.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful and (as you would imagine) poetic primer on Whitman. Williams makes some lovely and moving points about Whitman's deep and joyful artistry and lingual acrobatics.

[False · Rating 2 out of 5]

An attractive little book of Whitman essay put out by Princeton University Press, but it begs the question, "Do we really need a new book about Whitman?" I didn't think so.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent insight and analysis of the works of an unique artist.

[Sean A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Light it up like the city at night
Old dark bones in the city
Old Walt Whitman
and borrowed alcohol"
-Trampled By Turtles, "Walt Whitman"

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

I mostly read this to make sure that I wasn't missing too much in Whitman. It turned out to be an excellent read in itself, a celebration of Whitman's work and life.

[Adam Sol · Rating 5 out of 5]

A warm, chatty, affectionate tour through one of my favourite poets by one of my favourite poets.

[Randy Cauthen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little disappointing. Nothing really new.